I really wasn’t going to comment on the B. J. Coleman situation because it’s to be expected that there’s always a group of kids that leave a program in the wake of a change at head coach and I didn’t find the news anything out of the ordinary.

“It’s the best move for me,” the former McCallie School star said. “What changed my mind is, after this spring, I don’t see myself getting a fair shake. Based on conversations with coaches and things that happened this spring, I feel the staff has goals that do not include me…”

and it’s the kind of quote you see all the time from kids in Coleman’s situation.

But the article goes on to note that Coleman met with Junior and his position coach to ask for an assessment of his future with the program, got blown off twice about a follow up meeting for an answer and then met with the athletic director.

From there, it turned ugly, at least according to Coleman and his high school coach.

… After meeting with athletic director Mike Hamilton and the UT compliance office, Coleman returned to Kiffin’s office later Thursday afternoon to inform the coach of his decision to leave. According to Coleman, Kiffin became agitated.

However, Thursday evening a university athletic department spokesperson said he was unaware of the finality of Coleman’s decision.

“That’s hard to believe,” said Ralph Potter, who coached Coleman at McCallie and now is the athletic director and football coach at Brentwood Academy. “I know for a fact that B.J. met with Mike Hamilton, the director of football operations and Coach Kiffin and told all of them he wanted his release to separate himself from the team so he could pursue other options.

“I heard that directly from B.J. before and after Thursday’s meeting.”

Hey, at least it wasn’t Coach O who “became agitated”.

In his defense, the kid had a pretty good spring, especially compared to his competition for the position.

… In the three spring scrimmages that were treated as game situations and played in Neyland Stadium, Coleman was a combined 41-of-60 for 425 yards, with four touchdowns and no interceptions.

By comparison, Crompton was a combined 31-of-70 for 324 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Rising junior Nick Stephens, who missed much of the spring work with a broken right wrist, was 13-of-25 for 159 yards and two TDs.

So why the brush off? Coleman has an explanation for that, too.

“I believe the reason I wasn’t moved up is because it would hurt them in recruiting if they name a sophomore as their starter,” Coleman said. “Some of the high school guys they’re recruiting might not want to go where they think they’ll have to sit for a couple of years…”

“They” really means “he”.

“It’s been frustrating to hear Coach Kiffin talk about how the quarterbacks have struggled so much this spring when I knew I didn’t. It seemed like, for Coach Kiffin, the day was based on how Jonathan does.”

Ouch. I can’t wait to hear the damage control on this puppy. If Junior’s been surprised at the level of negative recruiting he’s faced to date, wait ’til the competition gets ahold of this story and uses it on the recruiting trail.

10 responses to “Kiffin watch: the fix is in.”

Unless you’re Clemson, the key to recruiting is to actually win games. I don’t think Lane has caught on to the correlation. The ManBearPig surely didn’t at Ole Miss. Maybe nobody on his staff understands that recruiting without winning only fills the cupboard for the next guy.

This is a stunner, and could have further ramifications for UT football. I know it was one scrimmage last Saturday, but we all have seen what Crompton has to offer under pressure, and Coleman was clearly the best QB talent on the field. He was UT’s only hope to not continue their slide, and now he has bolted and thrown a grenade into the room before he left.

I am sure those ridiculous Junior apologists who were here earlier in the week will come back and say it is all part of Baby Kiffin’s “master plan”, but you cannot smooth this one over. It’s messy on Old Rocky Top, and the smell is coming out of the HC’s office. The UT fans I know were totally confident BJ Coleman would be the starter and would be good enough until a Savior arrived and was groomed. They are devastated by this and not even pretending there is anything good about this situation. Another embarrassment from Kiffin (0-0 career record).

If he truly wants to sacrifice this season just to attract some HS QB, he is dumber than I thought. TN is battling SC for 3rd position in the East, and missing out on attractive bowls already. Now they want another year with Crompton, followed by a true Freshman? All SEC teams should hope that is the Master’s plan!

Layla Two brings Monte his daily vente cup of vanilla latte from Starbucks along with the daily intelligence report.

Monte sips the latte, reads the report, spits his latte and screams, “How come this Senator guy hasn’t been terminated with prejudice yet?”

Two tells Monte that while he talks about that all the time, he has not yet given specific orders for the mission to anyone yet. Monte tells Two to come up with a plan to eliminate the Senator. Two tells Monte that she has been working on one on her own, does he want to hear it? Wait a minute, tell me after this, Monte says to Two.

The daily saturation propaganda from the Senator is taking its toll on Monte. He didn’t retire and leave a nice place like Tampa and come to the freaking Green Zone to put up with shit like this every day.

Lane and Coach O are in back row of the bunker meeting room, cutting up again, playing rock paper scissors with each other.

Monte says to Lane, “Come over here. I’m going to bend you over my knee and whip your ass for pissing off the McCallie coach in Chattanooga. I should have done this to you when you shafted the Pahokee coach and lost Marlon Brown out of Memphis to Richt and then you lost a Memphis junior to Saban. Where the hell are the receivers? Now all we have left to recruit are the states of Alabama and Georgia.”

Lane tells his Daddy that Memphis was Lance’s fault not his. Monte tells Lane no excuses, you went to the press about Marlon’s grandma, bends Lane over his knee and starts beating Lane’s tail with a cutoff section of old fire hose.

Lane screams, tries to get away but cannot and yells for O who sprints to the front of the room, tackles Monte, freeing Lane. O starts trying to gnaw off Monte’s arm. Monte is whipping O with his baton. Lane goes through the bunker escape hatch…

These types of stories will be glossed over by many UT fans but they will be the cornerstone of Kiffin’s downfall when UT losses games and Kiffin doesn’t have the back of UT nation

Not sure I have ever seen this much…not sure how to phrase it…dis-function at a major school

Bloviation for the Dawgnation

Quote Of The Day

“It brings back a great Bulldog running back in Thomas who has NFL playing experience and has had success as a college coach at multiple schools. He also inherits a position that has been built to an elite level by Bryan. And it gives Bryan the opportunity to return to coaching the position he played and the one where he cut his teeth serving as a graduate assistant under wide receiver coach John Eason here at UGA. It also provides him with a new experience as a passing game coordinator.” -- Mark Richt, AB-H, 2/16/15